Vehicle body construction



June 9, 1931. 1. 'r. GILLIAN VEHICLE BODY CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. 13,1928 Patented June 9, 1931 UNITED STATES IRVING T. GILLIAN, OF DETROIT,MICHIGAN VEHICLE BODY CONSTRUCTION Application filed September 13, 1928.Serial No. 305,665.

This invention relates to vehicle bodies and particularly to the pillarsthereof and door dovetails employed in connection with them, theprincipal object being the provision of e a new and novel construction,simple in design and economical to manufacture.

Another object is to provide a door dovetail particularly adaptable foruse in connection with metal pillars and which will permit readyservicing of the dovetail.

Another object is to provide a door pillar and a dovetail so constructedthat the pillar serves as one face of the dovetail and so receives thedovetail parts that they may be easily and quickly removed as a unit.from the pillar.

A further object is to provide in combination with a metal pillar or apillar provided With a metallic cover, a dovetail comprising a metalcasing open on one side and enclosing the usual dovetail parts thepillar being provided with an opening in which the dovetail'isreceivable as a unit, and the dovetail bein provided with flanges forremovably attadliing it to the pillar.

The above being among the objects of the present invention, the sameconsists in certain features of construction and combinations of partsto be hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings,and then claimed, having the above and other objects in view.

In the accompanyingdrawings which 11- lustrate a suitable embodiment ofthe present invention, and in which like numerals refer to like partsthroughout the several different views, 7 t 7 Fig. 1 is a horizontalsectional V ew taken through the pillar for a motor vehlcle. at thepoint where a dovetail is secured thereto Fig. 2 is a. fragmentaryperspective view of the pillar with the dovetail removed.

Fig. 3 is a side view of the dovetail shown in mounted position on afragment of the pillar one face of which is shown removed to show theassembly of parts of the dovetail.

Fig. 4 is a view of the blank for the dovetail casing or containerbefore bending.

Fig. 5 is a View similar to Fig. 1 but showing the adaptation of thepresent invention to a woden pillar provided with a metallic facing.

Pillars for motor vehicles formed from sheet metal are coming intorelatively wide use. nection with such pillars is the method of securingthe door dovetails to them. At the present time the container or membersemployed for holding the various parts of the dovetail togther aresecurd to the pillar in either one of two ways. The first is by weldingthe casing to the inside face of the pillar and depending upon the usualopening provided for the reception of the male member of the dovetailfor permitting insertion and removal of the various parts of the femalemember into and from the container. The second method is to removablyattach the casing and the dovetail parts from the inside of the pillar.In the first of these methods because of the relatively small open ingnecessitated there is considerable difficulty in readily and properlyinserting the dovetail parts through the opening for the male member,and in the second of these methods, in order to remove a dovetail andreplace the parts thereof. the interior trim on the pillar must be firstremoved to permit access to the interior of the pillar. Neither of thesemethods are at all satisfactory from a service standpoint as the eX-pense involved in replacing the worn parts of a. dovetail is usually notcommensurate with the benefits derived.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a simple andeconomical construction for securing the female member of a dovetail ina door pillar which will permit the dovetail to be easily and quicklyremoved and replaced. In accordancetherewith I show in the accompanyingdrawings a pillar of conventional construction for an automobile bodyand formed of sheet metal. This pillar comprises the side portions 10,the inwardly bent portions 11, side portions 12 and face portion 13.AU-shaped sheet metal member 14 is secured between the free edges of theside portions 10 by welding or other suitable means and received withinthe member 14 is a wooden strip 15 which serves as the One problem thathas arisen in contacking strip for the upholstery or other interior trimof the vehicle body. In Figs. 1 and 2 I show a dovetail applied to oneside only of the pillar, it being obvious that another dovetail may beapplied to the opposite side of the pillar in exactly the same way, andthat instead of apil'lar of: the type described the present invention isalso equally well adapted for use in connectionwith any other type ofsheetmetal pillar construction. In accordance with the present inventionthe side face of the pillar is notched out as at 16 to provide clearancefor the conventional male member (not shown) of the dovetail which isreceived therein when the door (not shown) is in closed position, as isreadily obvious to those skilled in the art. In conventionalconstructions the face 11 is provided with a notch across its width inalignment with the notch 16' and of the same width for passage of themale member through such face. In the present invention instead ofproviding such relative narrow notch I cut away the face 11 on eitherside of the notch 16 to provide a relatively deep opening 17 extendingfrom a point a substan tial distance above the notch 16 to a point asubstantial distance below the notch 16, the vertical distance beingcommensurate with the vertical depth of the door dovetail which is to bereceived therein. This door dovetail may take the form illustrated inFigs. 1 and 8 and is preferably formed of sheet metal to provide acasing or container having a. side 18, ends 19, back 20 and flange faces21, the

one side being left entirely open. The flange 'faces 21 project aboveand. below the end faces 19 and are separated at their inner ends by anamount substantially equal to the width of the notch 16. The distancebetween the outer faces of the ends 19' is slightly less than the depthof the opening 17 in the pillar, and the casing is of a slightly lessthickness than the width of the opening 17fs0' that itis readilyreceivable therein. lVithin the casing may be positioned the usualdovetail parts ofany conventional construction, that shown comprisingthe rubber blocks 22' and spring wear member 23 between which the malemember of the dovetail is adaptedto be resiliently clamped when the dooris in closed position. The face 11 of the pillar is preferably depressedas at 24 innnediatly above and below the opening 17 an amount equal" tothe thickness. of the projecting portions of the face flanges 21' andfor a distance away from the opening 17'. an amount commensu rate withthe distance which the flange faces 21 project away from the ends. 19 sothat when the dovetail is inserted in place, the out-er surface oftheflange faces 21 will lie flush with the outer surface of the face 11.The depressed portions 24' are then provided with openings. 25, thewalls of which. may be a threaded or which may be provided with nuts 27secured to the rear face of the portions 24 in alignment with theopenings 25 by welding or other suitable means. The flange faces areprovided with. matching openings 26. In assembling the dovetail to thepillar the same is inserted through the opening 17 into. the interior ofthe pillar, the projecting ends of the flange faces being received inthe depressions 2d and suitable screws 32 being inserted through theopenings 26 and thread ed into the nuts 27, thereby securing thedovetail in place. The notch 16, when the dovetail is in assembledposition on the pillar, is in alignment with the space between thespring members 23 and the open side of the container is otherwise closedby the side face 10 of the pillar, thus preventing displacement of therubber blocks 22 and spring members 23. I also find it preferable tosecure a flange member 28 to the back 20 of the container and insert ascrew 29- through an opening 30 provided in the face 10 and eitherthreaded directly into the member 28 or a nut such as 81 secured theretoby welding or other suitable means; This firmly holds the dovetail inassembled position in the pillar.

It will be apparent from the above that when the spring members 23 orrubber blocks 22 become worn or otherwise damaged and replacement of thesame is necessary, it is only necessary to remove three screws andremove the container with such parts from the pillar, after which theparts in the container may be replaced and the assembly again replacedand secured. in the pillar.

This construction makes an ideal servicing propositionand one that isnot only economical in production but is relatively i'neX- pensive inservice as far as the owner of the vehicle is concerned.

' The casing itself may be made many suitable manner but in Fig. 4 Iillustrate a method by which it may be formed in asimple andeconomical'm'anner. As illustrated in that figure, a sheet of metal isstamped out to the shape shown and is sheared as. at 33 The blank isthen bent about the lines 34 to form the'ends 19, bent about the line 35to form the back20, and bent about the line 36 to form the flange faces21, thus leaving the side face 18. The side portions 19 and back 20arepreferably provided with tongues such as 3-7 and 38 respectively which,after the blank has been bent as above described, may

be bent around the adjacent sides, as indicated in Fig. 3,, and weldedorotherwise secured to such sides to thus secure the sides and backagainst separation.

The above described construction is equally well applicable to thosepillar constructions in which the pillar is formed of wood such as40 inFig. 5'to the general contour of the pillar previously described and isprovided with a sheet metal sheathing ll. In such a case the woodenportionAO beforevapplication of the sheathing 4:1 is provided with anotch such as 42 at the point where each dovetail is to be applied toit. The sheathing 41 before assembly to the wooden portion 40 is firstcut away in the same manner as the all-metal pillar previously describedand as indicated in Fig. 2, and thereafter the clovetail is secured tothe metallic portion of the pillar, and to the wood in addition ifdesired, as will be readily apparent and as indicated in Fig. 5.

Formal changes may be made in the specific embodiment of the inventiondescribed without departing from the spirit or substance of the broadinvention, the scope of which is commensurate with the appended claims,

What I claim is:

1. In combination with a door pillar provided with a pair of connectedsheet metal walls extending at an angle to each other, one of said wallsbeing provided with a notch extending perpendicularly to the line ofjunction of said walls, the other of said walls being provided with anopening joining said notch and extending beyond either side thereof, afemale member of a door dovetail including a metal casing and I opposedblocks insertable through and removable from said opening positionedwithin said pillar, said casing being provided with a flange overlyingan exterior face of said pillar, and removable means securing saidflange to said face.

2. In combination with a door pillar provided with a pair of connectedsheet metal walls extending at an angle to each other, one of said wallsbeing provided with a notch extending perpendicularly with respect tothe line of junction of said walls, the other of said walls beingprovided with an opening joining said notch and extending to pointsbeyond either side thereof, a female door dovetail member including acasing insertable into and removable from said pillar through saidopening positioned within said pillar, said casing being open on thatside thereof adjacent said notch and such open side being otherwiseclosed by said wall in which said notch is provided, and removable meanssecuring said casing agalnst movement in said pillar.

3. In comb1nat1on, an approximately trough shaped door pillar formedfrom sheet metal and provided with a pair of walls extending atapproximately right angles to each other, one of said walls beingprovided with a notch therein extending from the line of junction ofsaid walls in a direction perpendicular to said line of junction, theother of said walls being provided with an opening therein joining saidnotch and extending beyond the sides of said notch in both directionsand in parallel relation with respect to said line of junction, a doordovetail female member comprising an open faced sheet metal casinghaving a pair of oppositely extending flanges at one end. thereof and anoutwardly extending flange at the other end thereof, a pair of opposedblocks within said casing forming a recess between them, said casingbeing removably' received in said pillar through said opening with saidpair of flanges contacting against the outer face of said other wall andthe other of said flanges contacting against the inner face of the firstmentioned wall, said flanges and said opening locating said casingrelative to said notch whereby said blocks are disposed on oppositesides of said notch, and removable means securing said flanges to saidpillar.

4. In combination with a door pillar provided with a pair of connectedsheet metal walls extending at an angle to each other, one of said wallsbeing provided with a notch extending perpendicularly with respect tothe line of junction of said walls, the other of said walls beingprovided with an opening joining said notch and extending to a pointbeyond at least one side thereof, a female door dovetail memberincluding a casing insertable into and removable from said pillarthrough said opening positioned within said pillar, said casing belngopen on that side thereof adjacent said notch and such open side beingotherwise closed by said wall in which said notch is provided, andremovable means securing said casing against movement in said 'llar.

' IIiVING T. GILLIAN.

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